The Darkness Within
by JennelRodrigez
Summary: What if Lyell Bone was never hypnotised by Manfred Bloor? What if Charlie was taken to Count Harken instead? A Dark Charlie fanfic. AU Mild CO


**Disclaimer:** I do not own Charlie Bone and everything recognizable belongs to Jenny Nimmo.

**Chapter one**

'It really is creepy at how much he looks like Lyell' thought Amy. Even at the age of two, Charlie, her son had such similarities to his father. His hair was just as unruly as Lyell's. She had always told her husband to do something about his hair, but Lyell would always flash a dazzling smile at her and continue to run his hand through his hair, making it messier.

'At least he has my eyes' Amy thought thankfully as she looked down at the playing child in her lap. Charlie's doe brown eyes made him look even more adorable. The brown haired child was currently sitting on his mothers lap, happily chewing on his toys and every so often, he would look around at the door.

"Who are you looking for sweetie?" cooed Amy, holding Charlie close to her.

She knew perfectly well who Charlie was looking for. It was the same every evening, around seven, Charlie would eagerly anticipate his father's return from work. Of course for an ordinary two year old it was not possible to be able to determine the time, but Charlie was no ordinary boy. For that matter, neither were his parents. Lyell, who is a well-known organist and pianist, is a descendant of the Red King, who had children with extraordinary powers. Though Amy wasn't a descendant of the Red King, she is a descendant of the Welsh magician, who was friends with the Red King.

As if on cue, Lyell arrived through the front door of the house looking a little dismayed, but at the sight of Charlie and Amy, his hazel eyes lit up and a small smile graced his lips.

"Hey. How's my little man?" asked Lyell as he strode over to Amy and picked up Charlie, who was gurgling frantically to get his father's attention.

"Lyell, how many times do I have to remind you? He is a boy, not a man." Amy reprimanded playfully.

Lyell just shrugged and replied.

"Boy is so...I don't know. It just sounds weird, like I'm telling him off. He is my 'little man'." He said cuddling Charlie affectionately.

Amy smiled at her husband. In her opinion, Lyell just didn't want to sound to fatherly since he was only twenty-three years old.

Amy was just about to get up to get dinner, when a knock interrupted them. Lyell was instantly on alert. He silently handed Charlie over to Amy and went over to the door. He motioned for Amy to go to the other room with Charlie; Amy nodded and proceeded to the room quickly. Usually Amy wouldn't take orders from anyone, not even Lyell, but ever since that wretched prophecy was made, things had changed dramatically. They had moved to Filbert Street and only a select few knew where they were. Amy waited apprehensively, her wand held in one hand while holding Charlie in the other. She would hex anyone that as much cast a shadow over her only son.

Lyell leaned forward and looked through the peephole that allowed him to see who was at the door. Suddenly the door was opened and Amy could hear laughing and a voice she knew all too well. She let out a breath that she didn't even know that she was holding. She came out of her room and made her way downstairs. Sure enough there was Lyell's best friend / uncle, Paton and his old friend Link. Paton had annoyed Amy senseless in her years at Bones Academy, always goofing around with Lyell and getting him into all sorts of trouble. Of course, Lyell wasn't exactly the innocent party, but since Amy was now his wife she preferred to blame Paton. Link was always so quiet that Amy sometimes wondered what he was doing being friends with Lyell and Paton. Ricky was the only one Amy could have an intelligent conversation with. Unfortunately, he was not here tonight as he was having his little 'furry' problem as Paton had so sensitively called it.

"You could let us know that you're dropping by Paton." Amy remarked, while she was switching off all the lights and lighting up the candles. She handed Charlie over to his Godfather, who enthusiastically reached over and cuddled him as close as he could.

"Where is the fun in that?" He enquired as he gave Charlie a grin.

Charlie was already waving his hands around and giggling at Paton and his antics. Amy looked on affectionately at her son; he really was fond of his Godfather. Link was also looking on and Amy wasn't sure if she was just imagining it or not, but a look of regret flickered on his face. An almost pained expression was evident in Link's eyes.

"Link, are you okay?" she asked, putting a hand on his shoulder.

Link quickly looked away and shifted uncomfortably.

"Yeah um…I just...just, had a long day ...that's all..." he mumbled, looking positively sick.

"Don't talk to me about having long days." Lyell joined in. "I've had the most supremely awful day."

"Oh, what happened?" Paton quickly asked while still letting Charlie pull on his dark locks.

"Well, with the attacks coming in left, right and center, I don't know how much more we could take before it all goes pear shaped."

Lyell had a sad look in his usual sparkly hazel eyes. Lyell loved helping out the rest of the endowed, even though he admitted that he only choose to help because Paton choose to as well, but he quickly became very fond as a fighter for the light side.

However, after the prophecy was made about Charlie, Lyell was increasingly becoming more and more paranoid. He didn't like the idea of his child being faced with such a huge responsibility. 'Saving the World' that was his job, not Charlie's. So Lyell being Lyell was working day and night to eliminate Count Harken's forces. However, this becoming more and more stressful. Count Harken always seemed to be one step ahead of the endowed.

Paton looked a little disheartened by the look on his best friends face. Paton and Ricky were both endowed, as was Link but Lyell was the one most focused on the war. He wanted it over and done with so that Charlie could have a normal life.

Amy sighed and lifted the playing form of Charlie from Paton and gently rocking him, took him upstairs to his room. There she gently placed him in his cot and smoothed his down in another futile attempt to make his hair seem somewhat tidy.

"You may think this is funny now, Charlie, but trust me, when you're older you won't find settling your hair amusing at all." Amy told the small boy as he giggled and tried to grab his mother's fingers as she gently stoked his hair. Amy turned and left her boy playing happily in his cot.

She was just making her way downstairs when she suddenly realized with a sickening feeling that something was wrong. It wasn't something she heard, but the lack of sound at all. The three men in the living room were deathly quiet. That in it self was odd, since Paton and Lyell were in the same room. Amy quickly took out her wand and took a deep breath. What she saw when she entered the living room would haunt her for the rest of her life. There on the floor was the body of her Lyell with a growing pool of blood near his head. A broken bottle of whiskey was lying not to far away. Paton was also lying on his back completely unconscious.

"Oh God!...Lyell!...Lyell!"

Amy rushed towards her husband, completely forgetting the third person that was in the room. If Amy had noticed him, standing just behind the door, she might have been able to stop the tragedy that was looming near. As Amy came towards Lyell, Link who was holding a pan came up behind her and attacked before she could reach her husband.

Amy fell unconscious before she even hit the ground. Link looked at his former friends, all of them lying on the floor of their own home, hurt and betrayed by their own friend. He took a shaky breath and tried to calm his frantically beating heart. He was certain that if the house wasn't so big, then Amy would have been able to hear his heart thumping in his chest more loudly than the bottle breaking during the attack Lyell and Paton had so unrepentantly received.

He cast another regretful glance at his friends then left the room clumsily and made his way to Charlie's room; all the time repeating under his breath "Forgive me, Charlie...sorry Lyell...Paton, so sorry."

He had not thought he would get this far. He had hoped that that Lyell or Paton or even Amy would have been able to stop him from doing this, but since they didn't expect him of any sort of betrayal, let alone an attack and kidnapping of Charlie, he had managed this far. He didn't want to do this but there was no other way. His master was very clear in his instructions. Charlie was going to meet his fate at the hands of Count Harken himself.

He slowly opened the door and found Charlie sleeping soundly, clutching his stuffed toy deer. Link looked down at the sleeping child and felt a horrible sensation of guilt was over him. He was leading this child to his death. Charlie was only two years old, he was just a baby.

Link felt just as happy at the birth of Charlie as the rest of their friends, but once the prophecy had come to light things had changed. This boy prophesied to bring down his master. But for Link, the Count had to win this war. Link would have power beyond anything he could imagine. The boy had to go. Convincing him self that he was ensuring his own survival, he gently lifted Charlie and carried out the room, downstairs and without another glance at the three bodies lying on the floor, Link opened the door and left Filbert Street forever.

xxx

Link ran to the edge of the street and teleported to the Count's lair. His master was waiting for him, surrounded by only two members of his inner circle. With shaky hands, Link placed Charlie on the stone floor at Count Harken's feet. Charlie was surprisingly still fast asleep and didn't even stir. Link quickly dropped to his knees and crawled to Harken and kissed the hem of his robes while speaking in a shaky and quiet voice.

"Master, I have done what you asked of me. Master, this is Charlie."

Harken turned his scarlet eyes to the sleeping child and let his face break out into a satisfied smile. He was an attractive man with long dark hair and features that had gotten him a lot of interest in his younger years. The only thing that showed the true monster within was his pair of devilishly red eyes that seemed to burn into whoever dared to look at him. He tore his eyes away from Charlie and looked at the cowering form of his spy.

"Rise Link, you have done well. For once you have not messed up and have actually competed a task." He watched the pitiful man ruse shakily, uttering his gratitude and go on and on about how a gracious master he was. "Enough!" Harken hissed, instantly quieting Link. "Titania, lift the boy and let me have a closer look at the brat!"

Titania came almost instantly to lift Charlie off the cold floor and old him up for the Count to see.

Harken took in all detail of the child. He was disgusted with children in the whole. He had not quite forgotten how children had taunted and ridiculed him because he was different to them. However, this child had a powerful magical aura that seemed to however all around the boy. He was exceptional, there was no doubt about that and if Harken let the child live, then the Bone brat would most likely be his downfall.

'Such a waste of power' thought Harken. He drew his wand and heard the breaths sucked in by the people present. He smiled to himself, this was going to be sweet and he was going to enjoy every moment of it.

He pointed the wand at Charlie's head just as the child opened his eyes and looked innocently at Harken. There was a muttered incantation and a sudden blinding green light filled everyone's sight. Link closed his eyes just before the spell was uttered, but could still sense the green penetrate his closed eyes.

'Sorry Charlie' was all he could think, as the blinding light faded and threw everyone into darkness once again

xxx


End file.
